Cast: Franka Potente (Sissi), Benno Furmann (Bodo)
Directed by: Tom Tyker
Langauge: German
Release date: April 2001

The role of fate and chance in everyday lives has been a favorite muse for directors during the past decade or so. Director Tom Tyker chooses not to utilize the multiple, interconnecting storylines which is a seeming staple for any exploration of the genre. (He is the creator of the kinetic art-house hit Run, Lola, Run and the curiously fascinating Perfume: The story of a murderer) Why? Because he just wants to tell a love story.

Two lonely souls, who happen to collide violently and bounce off initially in their pre-ordained directions. Only to hurtle into each other again and again and again. The coincidences might have seemed contrived or pretentious in another movie. But Franka Potente’s luminous performance pulled me in. And then Twyker’s refusal to let in any kind of cliché or semblance of predictability kept me riveted for the length of the fascinating journey.

Sissi is a nurse in a psychiatric asylum. She is devoted to her patients and has developed an intimate association with them. Her life revolves around taking care of them. She is painfully shy. Also there is something of a child’s simplicity and conviction in her. She doesn’t operate by the usual norms of common sense or morality. Bodo playing the warrior to Sissi’s princess is a violent man, haunted by a tragedy from his past. He spends his life trapped in that moment, passively floating along the currents.

The movie kick starts with a horrible accident. Sissi is run over by a truck, trapped beneath it, struggling to breathe. Bodo takes refuge below the same truck, trying to escape his pursuers. He performs an impromptu tracheotomy and saves her life. And disappears, leaving behind a button from his coat in Sissi’s hand. Twyker imparts this entire bloody sequence with a strange hypnotic beauty. Once Sissi recovers, she finds that her life can’t be the same again. More accurately, she believes that she can’t let it be that way. She sets out to find Bodo. But Bodo is not yet ready to let anyone step into the void inside of him. And Sissi is not prepared to let go.

Soon they encounter each other during a bank robbery. As with most foolproof heist plans, this one too goes wrong. From here on, Sissi’s path gets inextricably intertwined with Bodo’s. Was it destiny or was it the logical consequence of the choices they made at crucial junctures? Probably both. Now, they are on the run from the law. For Sissi it is a quest for the new life she believes lies ahead. And she pulls Bodo along.

The gorgeous cinematography and symbology turns this unconventional romance into a contemporary redemptive fable, wrapped within layers of surrealism. Go ahead and indulge yourself in this dazzling reverie.

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